Utah Avenue

Utah Avenue

Can you believe it is P-day again already?  Me neither.

Also, didn't March just start yesterday?  And now it is practically over!  Weird!  I guess time flies when you are having fun/serving the Lord!

Sister Tanner and I wearing green for St. Patrick's Day!

 Here is a rundown of the week:

Tuesday-  We received 2 headquarter referrals.  One from some guy named Bryan but the address didn't exist... weird ;).  The other was for a lady and when we got there we saw that it was an assisted living center so we knew we would be in for a treat.  Turns out she was schizophrenic.  So that was an interesting visit.  Later that night we had a lesson with Sarah that went amazingly well!  We talked about the 10 commandments.  She has lived a really hard life and been through so much, but she is so willing to leave it all behind and follow Jesus Christ!  It is amazing!  The lesson could not have gone any better.  And now she is one step closer to the waters of baptism!

Wednesday- Something really cool happened.  I placed a Book of Mormon all by myself for the first time!!!  I have placed Book of Mormons before, but it has always been me and Sister Tanner tag-teaming it.  (which is the way it is supposed to be I guess).  But this time we were waiting at a bus stop and a less active that we have been working with for a long time called us.  Sister Tanner answered the phone and started talking to her for a while.  I looked over and saw a guy walking down the street and knew this was my chance.  I said a quick prayer, gave myself a mini pep talk, and walked over to him leaving Sister Tanner behind.  I started talking to him.  His name was Randy and he was a really nice guy!  We had been talking a while and I knew the bus should have been there by that point.  So I prayed really hard to Heavenly Father that the bus wouldn't come until I have given this guy a Book of Mormon.  I introduced the Book of Mormon to him and showed him the picture in the front of when Christ came to visit the America's and bore my testimony of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon.  I asked if I could say a prayer with him before I left and he agreed.  As soon as I said amen, there was our bus coming down the street.  What a tender mercy from Heavenly Father!  I felt the spirit so strong and I think Randy did too.  I know Heavenly Father was proud of me and I know that it wasn't a coincidence that the bus didn't come until Randy had heard my testimony of the restored gospel. 

Thursday-  Not much happened.  We were able to visit with some less-actives and then we had weekly planning which takes forever.  But something really cool happened that night though.  We were texting a set of Elders in our ward about them coming to a lesson.  The text that we sent was 2 pages long and they got the first page, but then the second page was some random person's name and address and phone number!  WHAT???  CRAZY!!!  We are thinking it must be a referral from heaven.  They are going to go visit her and I will let you know what happens. haha

One of my favorite members in our ward!  She died her hair blonde so now we match! :)

Love my new scarf from my favorite older sister!

Friday was a miracle day!  We tracted the nicest street in the United State of America!  Not a single person was interested in what we had to say at all, but none of them yelled at us or swore at us and only a couple slammed the door in our faces.  I was thinking about it, and I am grateful for all of the miserable experiences that I have had tracting.  I am especially grateful that the very first time I went was the worst time I have ever gone.  I really think that was a blessing in disguise because now I can compare every tracting experience to my first time and it never seems that bad anymore!  haha

Saturday not much happened.  Except I witnessed a drug deal in front of my very own eyes on the bus!  It was crazy.  They were sitting right in front of us and I will tell you this much... the Spirit was NOT there.  Geez... Saturday nights on the bus never disappoint.  But I know that Heavenly Father is looking out for us and keeping us safe!

I was studying 3 Nephi this week when Christ comes to the Americas.  I LOVE IT.  In 3 Nephi 9 it says, "Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?"

Christ wants to heal us!  He wants to make us whole.  He is just sitting there waiting for us and all we have to do is come unto him.  And we will give us the help that we need. 

Then 3 Nephi 9:14 says this:

(one of my ALL TIME favorite scriptures!)

Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life.  Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

I love you so much!!!  The church is true!

Remember who you are and whose you are!!

Love,

Sister King

Our countdown to S's baptism!  We are so excited!

Miracles in West Allis

Miracles are happening here in West Allis!  It is amazing!  I am just going to dive right into the week.

Monday-  Best P-day yet!  We got to go to the Milwaukee County Zoo. The Dominguez family invited us to go with them.  They are an awesome family in our ward and they take such good care of us.  I love them so much!  They are also AMAZING member missionaries!  I want to be like them when I get home!  Anyways, so we got to hang out with them all day at the zoo and it was the funnest thing ever.  Milwaukee has a pretty cool zoo!

Preaching the gospel to every creature!

Milwaukee County Zoo

 I thought of you Mom the ENTIRE time I was in the aviary.  Seriously.  And thought of Dad when we saw the moose.  I thought of all of my sisters when I saw the turtles... Do you remember last time we went to the zoo???  Haha anyways it was super fun.  We had dinner with them at their house that night too and they had Sarah over.  Sarah is AMAZING.  I don't remember what I already told you about her, but I am just going to have to tell you again if I already did.  Sarah has so much faith.  Her story is amazing.  It all started because Sister Dominguez was prompted to leave a Book of Mormon in Sarah's mailbox.  They barely knew each other!  So Sarah started coming to church with Sister Dominguez.  We'd been meeting with her a little bit and on Monday night at dinner we set a baptism date with her!!!! April 12!!!!  THIS IS SUCH A BIG DEAL. 

 I will have to ask her to write down her story so that I can send it to you or something because you won't even believe how amazing she is and all the spiritual experiences she is having.  I love Sarah so much and she is totally one of my best friends now too.  Helping her to strengthen her faith is helping to strenghten my faith.  I feel like that is what missionary work is all about. 

Tuesday-  Sister Tanner woke up sick so that was a bummer.  We were able to stop by Lake Michigan with our district.  It was absolutely breath-taking.  It is still really cold so a lot of it was frozen.  The pictures simply don't do it justice.  Looking at all of the different animals and then at the beautiful lake was such a testimony to me that there has to be a higher power. 

Lake Michigan!

My District at Lake Michigan

The Earth that Jesus Christ created is absolutely beautiful.  And amazing.  We visited some less-actives and then had dinner with another amazing family in our ward.  When we got home there were sisters from Stephen's point there waiting for us...  It was the night before transfers and we are the sisters that live closest to the stake center so they came to stay with us because they live 3 hours away.  But no one told us... so that was weird.  Haha anyways Tuesday was great!

#boredatthebusstop

Wednesday- TRANSFERS!!!  But it didn't really affect us at all since we are staying together in West Allis.  We tried to make it over the the stake center to see everyone and so that I could see Sister Osmond.  But it didn't end up working out... :(  I was so sad.  We called some people that were at the Stake Center so I got to talk to her for a little while so that was fun.  I was super sad that I wasn't going to be able to see her.  Anyways, we headed to the mission office because I needed to go pick up the package from Mom,  which I LOVED by the way!!   Thanks so much Mom!  It was so crazy that you were so close to me yet so far away!  Haha I loved the package and I love you!!!  So we headed to the mission office to grab the package and some other supplies and you will never guess who I saw when I walked in the doors... SISTER SOPHIA OSMOND!  What a tender mercy!  It was seriously the coolest thing.  So good to get to talk to her.  She is just as beautiful and kind as ever.  She is going to be a stellar missionary.

Got to see the one and only Sister Sophia Osmond!!!

As we were out and about on Wednesday, we decided to stop at our investigator's house, Cliff and Aretha.  They had been investigating for a while and have come to church before and they seem so promising!  But we haven't been able to get ahold of them at all pretty much the whole time I have been here.  We decided that we would stop by and leave them the Restoration DVD and then we would have to drop them.  As we were walking home, we were really sad about it.  We felt prompted to just leave them the DVD and we knew that we were going to have to drop them.  And right as we were talking about dropping them, you'll never guess who texted us!!! ARETHA!!!  It was so cool.  I know that that was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father.

Thursday-  We had dinner and a lesson with Sarah.  It was so fun!  We taught the Plan of Salvation.  It was amazing because even though the plan of salvation can be a little complicated, Sarah completely understood everything and agreed with everything too.  To her, the gospel just makes sense.  She talked about how she knew that going back to live with Heavenly Father would be like returning home.  I love that.  It really made me think.  I miss my family so much, but I love what I am doing here.  It is really hard sometimes.  I feel joy and I feel sadness.  And even though I love it here, I can't wait for the day that I get to return home to Provo to be with my family again.  That is what it is going to be like when we return home to our Father in heaven.  Obviously it will be a little different, but I feel like being on a mission is giving me a little sneak peek into eternity.  I can't wait to return to my heavenly home!  And my home in Provo too for that matter.

Friday-  I woke up sick.  It was inevitable.  Oh the joys of having a companion.  I knew when Sister Tanner got sick that I was going to have to be next.  I totally remember the day that she woke up sick and saying to her, "Wow.  You look like death."  But then I woke up on Friday and thought to myself, "Wow.  I feel like death."  But being sick wasn't going to stop us from doing missionary work!  Friday morning we had interviews with President.  They went really well.  I love President Cutler.  He talked about having a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  Having those qualities is so important as a missionary.  One interesting thing that he told me as I was leaving is that I shouldn't be afraid and that the Lord will protect me. 

 I thought that was interesting because I am often scared for my life...haha.  Going from Provo, Utah to Milwaukee, Wisconsin was a pretty big change for me. We do have to go pretty deep into the ghetto sometimes.  It may sound silly but it actually is pretty scary sometimes.  So I thought it was interesting that President told me that.  On Friday night one of my absolute favorite people in the ward, Sister Lundberg, took us to dinner.  She took us to a Friday Fish Fry at the Polish Community Center in Milwaukee.  It was so awesome!!!!!  During lent Catholics don't eat meat on Friday so they have these huge parties where they eat a bunch of fish.  It was way fun and because it was at the polish community center it was all cultural and stuff too.  I loved it.  Before we left, we went to check out the polish library that they had.  They had a bunch of polish artifacts and cool things like that.  Sister Tanner and I thought that people probably come in there a lot asking about their family history.  So we decided that we would ask one of the ladies working there if we could leave some family search cards there with the churches information for her to hand out to people.  So we went up to the lady working there and asked, "Hey, do people come in here a lot asking about their family history?"  Before we could even give her cards or tell her that we were missionaries she replied,"Oh yes all the time!  But we don't usually have the answers so we just send them to that Mormon Church down on 96th and Grange.  They have a great family history library."  HAHAHAHAHAHAAH!  They already had been sending people to our family history center.  We left the cards with her anyway and left. 

The Polish Community Center in Milwaukee

Saturday-  My two month mark!!!  Can you believe I have been gone two whole months??  Crazy.  The Oak Creek ward had a baptism and we brought our investigator Lenier.  I really think he enjoyed it. The spirit there was amazing.  It was cool to see other missionaries get a baptism because it makes me want to work harder.  And it also made me so stoked for Sarah's baptism! 

Overall, things are going pretty well!  It seems like the best weeks are usually some of the hardest too.  But it's ok!  I came across this quote from President Monson.

"So much in life depends on our attitude.  The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference.  To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment."

Isn't that great!  Our attitude really makes a difference.

I love this gospel! 

Love,

Sister King 

'Stallis Strong

Prayers have been answered because Sister Tanner and I will be staying together for another transfer here in West Allis!!!  I'm so grateful and I'm so excited.  I hope these next 6 weeks will be just as awesome as the last.  It is so weird that I have already been out a transfer.  I think that means I am 1/12 of the way done.  Crazy!  It is going by so fast!  And I can't believe that Sophia will be here on Wednesday.  Sis Tanner and I are going to try to swing by the Stake Center on Wednesday so hopefully I will see her!  I sure do love that girl.

Also, Wyatt I think got transferred to somewhere up in Green Bay so I won't be seeing him anytime soon.  Transfers seriously are crazy.  That is another reason that I know the church is true because there is no possible way that transfers could work if it wasn't.  Haha but Sis Tanner and I will be together this transfer so that is all I really care about.  Also I was thinking... there is this transfer and then the one after that is Mother's Day so I will get to talk to you guys!!!!  I can't believe it! I am so excited.  I know that I say it a lot but I sure do miss every single one of you.

All the other sisters were jealous of how awesome my trainer is :)

Here is what has been going on in 'stallis.

Tuesday was fun.  We had a zone training in the morning and that ended up taking most of the day because afterwards we all went out to Buffalo Wild Wings as a zone.  hahaha that was fun and also delicious.  After that we met with a new investigator that ended up coming to church this week so things are looking promising there.

Wednesday was probably the best day of my mission so far.  In the morning we didn't have much to do so we decided to set out and go tracting.  We decided that we would get off the bus somewhere around 80th street and then tract around there for an hour or two.  The bus driver missed our bus stop so we ended up getting off around 76th.  I don't know why but we decided to walk back to 80th street to tract.  At the time it didn't seem like we were being prompted very strongly to do it, but it was just kind of the way things worked out.  We met a lot of nice people on 80th street (as well as a lot of mean ones...) But the cool thing is that as we were walking down the street this girl came out of her front door and started walking to her car.  We crossed the street to try to talk to her before she left.  I handed her a mormon.org card and she gasped and said "I have always wanted to learn about this!"  She was in a hurry so we couldn't talk to her for very long but we set an appointment for later and then she left.  Her name is Tess  and  just 5 minutes later she texted us and said "I am so shocked that I ran into you girls."  I know without a doubt that we were supposed to run into her that day.  It wouldn't have happened if we hadn't have walked back all that way to 80th street.  Later that night we had dinner with Sarah who is the friend of one of our ward members and we had dinner at her house.  It was so fun!  She is so cute and she is so prepared and has so much faith.  She made us the yummiest dinner ever and then shared some of the experiences that she has had since she has started coming to church last month.  Her faith and testimony have really helped to strengthen my faith and testimony.  She is such an amazing example to me.  It is so fun because she really has become our friend.  I love Sarah because I have seen how the gospel has already changed her life for the better.  She is amazing.

I think the reason that Wednesday was so amazing is because it was the first day on my mission that I have truly felt like an instrument in the Lord's hands.  This is His work and He is the one preparing people.  I am just the instrument that He uses!  For example, with Tess

I know that Heavenly Father has been preparing her.  He sent us back to 80th street to find her!  Looking back I know that it was a spiritual prompting that we acted on and it is the best feeling in the world.  I love serving the Lord!

We were really looking forward to Thursday because we had an appointment scheduled for every hour.  That never happens because it usually takes us an hour or more to get from appointment to appointment on the bus, but we had worked it out so that members could come with us and drive us to appointments.  We were so stoked to have such a busy and successful day!  Most of the appointments ended up falling through... that's missionary work for ya.  But we were still able to get a lot done!  It was still a good day.

So good to see Sister Packer again!

All of the Sisters that I came out with together again!

Friday was New Missionary Training!  We got together with all of the missionaries that I came out with to have a training together and for President to see how our first transfer has been going.  It was so fun to get to see my MTC friends again.  Especially Sister Packer!  Oh how I have missed that girl.  She is so sweet and she seems to be doing well.  She is in Sun Prairie which is up by Madison.

Our training started out with President Cutler teaching us about some missionaries from the Book of Mormon.  One reason that I love the Cutlers so much is because they really are concerned about each of the individual missionaries and their conversions.  Even though trainings can be long, I have loved each and every one of them.  Then we got to have lunch and this was probably my favorite part of the day because I really got to catch up with all of the girls I came out with.  It was fun because I totally have the coolest stories so far.  Because we are in Milwaukee and we take the bus we meet crazy people every single day so I just told them all about all the drunk people we meet and that was fun.

After that we just did a lot of role playing and practicing teaching all of the different trainers that were there.  It was fun to get to teach all of the other trainers and they were all so nice.  That being said, I could not be more grateful that I lucked out with Sister Tanner.  The other trainers were nice but Sister Tanner is totally the best/coolest/funnest one.  Haha I was thinking about it as I ate lunch with both Sister Tanner and Sister Packer and I don't know how I lucked out with the two best companions in the whole mission to be my first two companions.  I feel so blessed!  I hope that I can be a good companion throughout my mission.  I also liked the New Missionary Training because it helped me to see how far I have come.  Just in six weeks I have already learned so much!  I know that I still have a loooooooooooong way to go, but I am grateful for how much I have grown so far.  The training was awesome.

After that we had dinner at the Boston's who are the super awesome members of our ward and we played marshmallow wars :)

Saturday morning we got the transfer text and we were STOKED to find out that we will be staying together! 

Sister Tanner and I got bored one night... haha

Over all, it was a pretty good week! And it was also a good transfer.  Excited to start the next one!

Today it is like 45 degrees outside so we are roasting!  And a member invited us to go to the zoo so that is what I will be doing for p-day today. 

I thought I would just leave you with the cool quote from President Monson that I like to remind myself of here in the mission field, especially when things get hard and it's tough to have a good attitude.

"There is only one thing that is more contagious than enthusiasm, and that is the lack of enthusiasm."

WE HAVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL ON THE EARTH!!!!  How exciting is that?  It really is such a big deal!  Be excited to share it with anyone that you can because the gospel truly is good news.

Love you all so much.  I appreciate your letters and e-mails more than you know!  Have an awesome week!

Love,

Sister King

In Like A Lion, And (Hopefully) Out Like A Lamb

That is what everyone says about the weather here in March.  It is still absolutely FREEZING cold and it snows everyday and if it doesn't warm up by at least the end of March then I'mma go crazy!  Haha.  Speaking of March, uh..... can you believe it is MARCH????  Time is seriously flying by.

Enjoying a nice 6 inch snowstorm

Really enjoying a nice 6 inch snowstorm

Here is what has been going on in 'Stallis:

Tuesday we had our last district meeting before transfers which are on March 12.  It was sad, but also exciting.  Sad because I really love my district and it has been so much fun and I have learned so much.  But exciting because I have almost survived my first transfer!!!  WHAT??  Weird.  So on Saturday we will get the notorious "transfer text" to see who stays and who goes.  Please pray that Sis Tanner won't get transferred.  We work so well together and she is my best friend.  I need her to finish out my training!  Plus, we have so much ahead of us this coming transfer and I am so excited about it.  So pray that Sis Tanner and I can stay in West Allis together.  We have work to do!

Wednesday was my very first exchange and I couldn't have been more nervous.  Sis Tanner left to go to Konosha and one of the sister training leaders, Sister Peterson, came to West Allis.  So I had to get us everywhere we needed to go on the buses and schedule appointments and stuff.  But I managed and am alive to tell the tale.  Sister Peterson was so sweet and nice and patient with me.  We had some good lessons and met some great people together.  Exchanges were great but I could not be more excited that they are over and also to have Sister Tanner back!

Hahaha  Sister Tanner and I have fun!

Switching back after exchanges.

Friday we helped our good friend Judy move.  We have been working with her for a really long time.  She has always been so sweet and kind to us and it was so sad to see her go.  But I am glad that we could help her move.

Saturday was AWESOME.  It was ward game night!  Haha I haven't had that much fun in a long time.  I remember walking into the gym in the church building for a relief society activity on my very first day here in West Allis.  I was so scared and nervous and had no idea who anybody was.  On Saturday when I walked into the gym all of the same people were there but this time I saw so many friends and people that I have come know and love.  They truly are my ward family now and I feel so blessed to be able to serve them.

P-day Swag!

Only in Wisconsin!

Having dinner with an awesome family in our ward- the King family!  haha this is their cute daughter.  Looks like we've got a future Sister King on our hands!

We got to wear jeans for once to go do service!  First time I had ever ridden the bus not in church clothes and it was the WEIRDEST thing!

This is our good friend  that we helped move this week.  She is one of the kindest people I have ever met and it was so sad to have to say goodbye.

World Famous Kopp's Frozen Custard with our district after we helped Judy move

Definitely an awkward picture but this is our District plus the Zone Leaders at the last district meeting.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting.  Sister Stewart bore her testimony and it was the sweetest thing I have ever heard and I felt the spirit so strong.  It truly is amazing that families can be together forever.  I love you guys and am so glad that I get to be with you forever!  Knowing that makes not seeing you for these 18 months a little easier too.

This week I have been reading in Alma about the mission of Ammon and his brothers.  In Alma 26 Ammon is talking with his brothers about the success of their missions.  They converted an entire Lamanite nation for crying out loud!  He talks about how they could not have done it without the Lord's help.  I have always loved verse 12, but I have never understood it and appreciated it as much as I do now.

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I love the Lord and am so grateful for the strength that He gives me.  If you have time, you should read all of chapter 26 because it is Ammon pretty much freaking out about how awesome the gospel is.  And it is how Sister Tanner and I feel about the gospel every single day!!!  We seriously have freak outs sometimes because our studies in the morning are so awesome.  In fact I think it is in the chapter after that that it says that Ammon was so excited and happy that he passes out.  Hahahaha that is definitely what a mission feels like on good days.

This week was definitely hard, but also totally worth it.  The church is so true and the work in hastening here in Wisconsin!

I LOVE YOU!

Sister King